


The Taste Of Fear

by VampAmber



Series: SPN ABO Bingo: Round One [13]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Alpha Castiel (Supernatural), Alpha Sam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Omega Dean, Case Fic, Complete, Cover Art, Dark, Halloween, Haunted Houses, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, Omega Dean, One Shot, SPN A/B/O Bingo, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 15:43:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12510696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampAmber/pseuds/VampAmber
Summary: “So get this,” Sam said as he walked into the bunker’s library area. “There’s this haunted house about an hour’s drive from here that sounds right up our alley.”“So, your basic salt and burn?” Dean asked.“Wrong kind of haunted house,” Sam responded. He pulled a piece of neon green paper out of his pocket and handed it to Dean. “People have been going missing, mostly alphas but a few betas, too. And some of the ones that don’t go missing end up with minor PTSD-like symptoms. I’ve done as much research as I could, but nothing seems to fit.”While Sam was talking, Dean had been reading the information on the flyer. It was the same kind of haunted house flyer that was scattered everywhere this month, but unlike the others this one claimed repeatedly that it was ‘so scary that if you finish it, we pay you’. Dean would have laughed if Sam hadn’t explained about the missing people first.“Let me guess, the missing people were the ones that would’ve been paid?” Dean asked, pointing at that part of the ad.





	The Taste Of Fear

**Author's Note:**

> This one's a double shot, so to speak. It's a Bingo square, while at the same time it's my latest addition to the All Things Destiel And Cockles 18+ Monthly Challenge. The challenge this month was just something Halloween themed, but the catch was that we would be doing it as teams, as a kind of collaboration. I lucked out and got an awesome artist, [Yasminlovesherangel](https://yasminlovesherangel.tumblr.com/). The piece she did for this fic is right there at the top, and boy did it turn out awesome. XD ([go here to see the full sized version](https://i.imgur.com/1Ekhger.jpg))
> 
> I based this off of one of my very favorite urban legends (Snopes basically owned me back in the early 2000s, back when it was just a collection of urban legends instead of 95% basic fact checking for the internet illiterate): [The Unfinishable Haunted House](https://www.snopes.com/holidays/halloween/haunted.asp). I even got told this urban legend as fact when I was a kid, when my friend across the street, Matt, bragged that he'd actually completed it. I was in elementary school, so I of course believed him.
> 
> The square I used for this fic for ABO Bingo was **Dark Fic**. Now, I wasn't sure what exactly dark fic was, I just knew that it was, you know, _dark_. So I looked it up, and I think I got it right except that I gave mine a happy ending even though the definitions said there weren't happy endings. But you know what? Fuck it. My fic, and I want a happy ending. So here you go.
> 
> And last but not least, this fic gives me my very first Bingo! Yays!

[ ](https://imgur.com/pMFiMCt)

“So get this,” Sam said as he walked into the bunker’s library area. “There’s this haunted house about an hour’s drive from here that sounds right up our alley.”

“So, your basic salt and burn?” Dean asked, not even bothering to pause his video. He smiled as the anime girl let out a moan and his little brother gave him a bitch face. Messing with Sammy was probably one of his favorite hobbies at this point.

“Wrong kind of haunted house,” Sam finally responded, but only after glaring at Dean until he muted his computer. He pulled a piece of neon green paper out of his pocket and handed it to Dean. “People have been going missing, mostly alphas but a few betas, too. And some of the ones that don’t go missing end up with minor PTSD-like symptoms. I’ve done as much research as I could, but nothing seems to fit.”

While Sam was talking, Dean had been reading the information on the flyer. It was the same kind of haunted house flyer that was scattered everywhere this month, but unlike the others this one claimed repeatedly that it was ‘so scary that if you finish it, we pay you’. Dean would have laughed if Sam hadn’t explained about the missing people first.

“Let me guess, the missing people were the ones that would’ve been paid?” Dean asked, pointing at that part of the ad.

“Pretty much,” Sam said with a nod. “Whenever they went in with somebody, the people who didn’t make it through would wait outside but the person would never show. It’s only been about a dozen so far, but that’s still pretty suspicious.”

“Our kind of suspicious, too,” Dean agreed as he stood up. He exited out of his anime (which actually wasn’t a porn, he just liked messing with his brother), and grabbed the keys to the Impala. “We need to stake this place out then, maybe have Cas with us. You and him both being alphas, that should help since they’re mostly what's being targeted.”

Dean had long since learned to live with the fact that he’d somehow ended up as an omega, much to his father’s great disappointment. But every so often he’d bristle at the fact that his omega-ness made him unable to help out with part of a case. This happened to be one of those times, but he made sure to not let it show. Any time he accidentally let his inadequacy flag fly, Sam zoomed in on it and wanted to play the caring therapist, and that annoyed Dean even more than being an omega did. He didn’t need anybody’s pity, damn it.

A little over an hour later, Dean was standing in an unbelievably long line with Sam and Cas. What better way to stake the place out than to go through it as a paying customer, right? When they decided on this plan on the drive over, Dean hadn’t expected half the freaking city to already be there, though. “This is going to take forever,” Dean complained as he glared at the line in impatience.

“We’ve only been here for ten minutes,” Sam said as he rolled his eyes.

“I still don’t understand why people would want to pay money to be frightened like this,” Cas said, looking adorably confused. Dean tried his hardest to squash down that feeling, but after so many years it was getting harder and harder to do.

As much as he hated to admit it, Dean had been somewhat in crush with Cas almost since that night in the barn all those years ago. But he never did anything about it, for so many reasons. Not only was the angel way too good for him because he was, you know, a _freaking ANGEL_ , no, that wasn’t even the biggest roadblock. Ever since he presented as a scared thirteen year old, Dean had never wanted to have a mate or do anything that would have been seen as typically omega, since there was always his father’s voice in the back of his head insulting him about being like all the rest whenever he did anything that could even be remotely linked. If he watched anything too girly, if he looked twice at anybody that wasn’t a female omega or beta, even if he ate something that wasn’t meat, meat, and more meat with grease on the side, his dad would be on his case in an instant. There was only so many times a guy could hear the ‘pregnant omega whore’ spiel before he started to subconsciously avoid anything that could possibly trigger it. And even though John Winchester had been dead and burned for over a decade, it was really hard to ignore that little nagging voice. So anything other than friendship with Cas was completely out of the question. No matter how much he wanted it, or how strong that want was getting. Even if that want had turned into a need ages ago.

Dean shook his head as he realized he’d been spacing out, but thankfully nobody had noticed. Cas was still looking confused as Sam tried to explain about things like adrenaline rushes and how some humans liked things like that. It was pretty scientific, with Sam going full nerd since Cas would actually be able to mostly understand it, so Dean just went back to tuning it out. The line slowly crept along, and while they saw more than a few people walking past that looked way more terrified than a regular haunted house should make a person look, they didn’t hear anything about any missing people or see anybody waiting next to the exits longer than normal.

Much to Dean’s annoyance, it took another half hour before they reached the front of the line. When Sam had reminded him that it was Saturday night so of course the lines were going to be long at pretty much every haunted house in the country, Dean had only responded with a raised middle finger.

The lady taking the money didn’t seem different from any other disgruntled retail employee, and the monotone she spoke in only showed how sick she was of people complaining about it costing twenty bucks a pop, not anything that could be seen as a supernatural occurrence. By the time they reached her, Dean probably could have recited her explanation for the high cost right along with her, he’d heard it so many times. Though all the posturing alphas who puffed themselves up when she explained how it was like a test of bravery made Dean have to try very hard to hold in his laughter. One look at Sam showed that his brother felt the same way, and was expressing it through eye rolling.

Sixty dollars lighter, the three entered the haunted house, and Dean was disappointed. It was basically the same as all the other, non-magical ones out there. “You sure this is our kinda thing?” Dean asked Sam softly, not wanting to be overheard by the other people who were also going through the attraction.

“I’m starting to doubt myself too, Dean,” Sam said back at the same volume.

“Something feels… off, but not overly so,” Cas said, not bothering to be quiet.

“Keep going, then?” Dean asked with a shrug, and the other two nodded. It wasn’t until the sign that claimed they were at the halfway point that Dean really started to feel it. It was that creeping sensation that he’d sometimes get on some of their more dangerous hunts, the ones when he knew the monster was watching them and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He looked down at his arm and saw the hairs were even standing on end.

“You’re feeling that too, right?” Sam asked, while looking around for the potential threat.

“Like a wendigo or something’s about to attack? Yeah,” Dean agreed, and they both looked at Cas, who already looked on full alert. Dean edged closer, on the off chance that he had to keep the angel from busting out his angel blade around a bunch of innocent bystanders.

“It’s fear magic,” Cas said, “and it’s very strong. The farther in we go, the stronger it gets.” They’d already seen a few people head for one of the numerous exits labeled ‘Escape Route’, so that actually made a fair amount of sense.

As they went even further in, Dean had to constantly stop himself from checking behind them. The best way he could describe it was like some of the worst hunts they’d ever been on. It seriously felt as if he were in a den of pissed off werewolves during the full moon and he was completely weaponless. Even mentally, he didn’t make fun of all the people he kept seeing head to the exits, because he knew damn well if he hadn’t been experiencing this same kind of stuff since he was a kid he’d probably be halfway to tears by now, the fear magic was so thick. He could almost taste it, it was so strong.

“I can see why people were ending up with PTSD symptoms now,” Sam said quietly, even though they were some of the few remaining customers left at this point. “It feels like the apocalypse all over again, and then some.”

“Like Purgatory,” Cas mumbled. Dean wasn’t sure if the angel had meant to say it out loud, but he was right. That was exactly how it felt. Eyes in the darkness, wanting to rip you into shreds, tear you with their teeth and claws. Hunger in their scent, rape on their minds when they realized Dean was an omega. He couldn’t suppress the shudder that went down his spine at the memory. And that’s exactly what this place felt like now.

Dean felt something on his shoulder and he jumped. “Dean, are you okay?” Cas asked, looking worried.

“Yeah, just remembering Purgatory, is all,” Dean responded, trying to act braver than he felt right now. Cas squeezed his shoulder in a comforting way, and Dean had to resist climbing into the guy’s arms and letting the angel protect him from the big, scary world. No! Damn it, this place was getting to Dean even worse than he’d first thought. “This place is… it’s… We need to fix this, and fast,” Dean finally finished.

“Definitely,” Cas said and nodded. “I would normally be immune to effects like this, but it’s even getting to me so it must be a lot stronger than anything we’ve encountered before.”

“Yeah,” Dean said, pulling away from Cas to help him resist temptation. “Hey Sammy, any thoughts on what this could even be?” Dean called out to his brother. When Sam didn’t reply, Dean turned around to see why, and noticed for the first time that he and Cas were alone. When on earth had that happened? “Shit, Sam’s gone,” Dean said to Cas, but when he turned back Cas was gone too. “Great, divide and conquer,” he muttered to himself as he started off in search of his brother and his angel. The angel. Not his, the. Damn it…

Even people that had no idea that magic and monsters existed in the first place would have to know that something was up by this point in the haunted house. Dean kept seeing things he knew weren’t there darting about out of the corner of his eyes. He had his hand firmly on the angel blade they’d gotten off of some random dick with wings trying to kill them ages ago when the chick hadn’t succeeded. He had no idea what this thing was that was running the house, whether it was a monster or just a witch even, but he figured that an angel blade could kill just about anything short of Lucifer, so that should be good enough for now.

“Dean!” Dean whipped around at his shouted name, and gaped at what he saw. This had to be a hallucination or something, because standing not five feet away from him was the long dead John Winchester himself. “I told you and told you, but you just wouldn’t listen to me, would you? Always a sniveling, snot-nosed omega, completely helpless no matter how hard you tried,” John lectured him, stepping closer. He looked angrier than Dean had ever seen him, and even though he knew the alpha couldn’t be real he still cowered in fear before him. “Can’t even figure out a pathetically easy haunting like this. How did I raise such a worthless omega? Should’ve just sold you to a damn whore house and been done with it. At least your little brother wasn’t such a horrible disappointment.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Dean responded, slipping right back into old habits.

“Sorry,” John said with a cruel laugh. “Yeah, you’re definitely sorry. You should just let that angel knot you and make you his bitch already. Maybe you’d make a better pregnant housewife than you would a hunter. Pushing out pups and taking care of their alpha is all an omega’s good for, anyway.”

“Cas would never treat me like that,” Dean argued. John could insult him all he wanted, and Dean would accept it and probably even agree with most of it, but nobody bad mouthed Cas. “He’s not some alpha knothead who thinks he’s better than everybody just because of some fluke of biology, like you. He’s nothing like you.” Defending Cas was enough to help Dean stop cowering, and he stood taller than he ever had when confronting his real dad as he continued. “Cas has never once judged me for being an omega, never once belittled me like you always did. He’s never called me a whore, or said a damn word about me only being good for having kids. He’s a better alpha than you ever were, Dad.”

It felt so amazing to finally tell his father off, but the sense of elation didn’t last very long. John gave him an angry look for a few seconds, then his face broke out in a malicious grin. “If he’s such an amazing alpha, why isn’t he here to save you from them?” John asked condescendingly, pointing behind Dean.

When Dean turned around, he saw that he was being slowly surrounded by just about every kind of monster he and Benny and Cas had fought against in Purgatory, and they were all looking at him like he was lunch. But then he smelled the scent of heat that he was inexplicably giving off, and lunch no longer seemed the correct term to use. The smell of alpha arousal was so strong that every single instinct in Dean demanded that he submit, that he bend over and present, and let these things gang bang him until he was a bleeding pile of pain on the floor.

But damn it, he’d made it through multiple heats in the real Purgatory, he could handle this easily. He grabbed the hidden angel blade and gave his father a smug smile in return. “Because I can save myself,” Dean answered, before the monsters all launched themselves at him at once and the fight took all his attention.

The fake version of his dad kept shouting insults at him while he fought, but he was so in the zone that he did his best to ignore it. He was exhausted and covered in blood by the end, surrounded by a pile of corpses that reminded him of when he still had the Mark of Cain, but at least he’d won.

“You should have let them,” John said weakly. “You’re an omega, it’s what you deserve.”

“You know what, Dad?” Dean said, no longer caring what this version, or even the real version, of his father thought. “Fuck you.”

Dean saw the surprise flash over his father’s face right before everything went dark. There were a few minutes where he wasn’t sure what was going on, even whether he’d went unconscious or not, but when he could see again he felt ropes binding him to the table he was lying on. “What the hell?” He asked, struggling against the ropes, but they wouldn’t budge an inch.

“An omega,” a voice said just out of Dean’s vision. “I’ve been doing this for decades, and I’ve never had an omega come this far before.”

“Hey, fuck face, what the hell’s going on here?” Dean growled, fighting even harder against his bindings.

“Even the alphas weren’t as brave as you, my dear little omega,” the voice continued, before finally stepping close enough for Dean to see it. It was a monster, that much was obvious, but what kind Dean had literally no clue. It was dark brown and kind of scaly, but more than anything it looked hungry. Not the kind of hungry those Purgatory illusions from earlier had looked, but actual hunger. Apparently Dean was back on the menu.

“What are you?” Dean tried again, hoping he could get some answers from this thing.

“Me? I’m not important,” the thing said, waving its hand as if Dean had said something stupid and frivolous. “You, though? You’re going to be the most delicious thing I’ve ever laid my teeth into.”

“So, you use the fear to tenderize the meat or something?” Dean asked, trying to stall the thing until he could either get the ropes off himself, or his brother or the angel came to help him out. He was also curious, too, truth be told. They’d never encountered anything like this before. It reminded him of a djinn, at least the killing method did.

The monster just laughed. “No, my ignorant little omega. I _eat_ the fear,” it explained, looking like it was about to go into a villain monologue. Perfect. “One of these little houses every October, and I’m fed for the entire year. You humans are strange that way, actually enjoying being scared. But who am I to judge, since I benefit from it so nicely.” The thing shrugged, then turned around as it continued to talk. Full on monologue. Dean tried praying to Cas, in hopes that he could hear.

“Fear is what I eat, but when bravery turns into fear, now that is an absolute delicacy. Give you humans enough of an incentive to be brave, and I end up with a gourmet feast. The ones that end up on that table, I turn their bravery into fear and it’s the best taste ever,” it finally finished, before turning back around again. A wicked looking ceremonial knife was in its hand, and it was licking its lips hungrily. “You, I think, will be the best one of all.” Without any hesitation, the thing slashed Dean on the arm.

The cut itself didn’t hurt all that bad, but he screamed as his brain was suddenly overloaded with all the terrifying things he’d dealt with in his time as a hunter. Leviathan were attacking him, and Lucifer was mocking him. Lilith was winning, and Cas was… He was holding Cas’ coat after dragging it out of the water. He was watching him explode in the graveyard over and over again. A tooth and some splatter was all that was left of him in Chuck’s house. April was stabbing him and the light in his eyes was permanently snuffed out. He could barely feel the monster licking the blood and fear from the cut before making more, but he felt himself screaming. Just one word. “CAS!”

He was watching his mother go up in flames for what was probably the eighth time so far when the crashing sound brought him back to reality. The door burst inwards and Cas was standing there, looking more pissed than Dean had ever seen him. He grabbed the monster before it had a chance to react, then threw it across the room before ripping away the ropes that had been binding Dean. He laid his palm on Dean’s forehead and all the oozing cuts disappeared.

“Cas, thank god,” Dean said, hopping off the table to stand beside him. “Those ropes wouldn’t give no matter what I did.”

“Dean,” Cas said, his eyes softening the second they met the hunter’s. “I thought you were dead, but then I heard you, and…”

“It wasn’t real, Cas,” Dean explained, grabbing the angel blade the monster had taken from him where it was sitting with the rest of his stuff on a nearby table. “I saw my dad, even. And a bunch of monsters from Purgatory.”

“Now I can eat you both,” the monster yelled before charging at them. Obviously, it had no idea who it was dealing with. Between a vengeful Dean and a pissed off Cas, they made short work of the thing. When it died, they could actually feel the spell dissipating.

As Dean was giving it a few last kicks to the face out of spite, Cas walked up to him and hugged him. “Dean, I thought you and Sam were dead, that I’d failed you both. The illusion version of you had blamed me for everything before it died, and I know it was an illusion but I’m still so sorry,” Cas babbled, holding on tightly to Dean. “I’m sorry for all the times I’ve failed you, Dean.”

Dean pushed away just enough that he could look the angel in the eye. It took him a second to actually speak because he always forgot just how unbelievably blue they were when he wasn’t looking right at them. “Everybody fucks up from time to time, man. I don’t blame any of that stuff on you, I promise.” Cas looked so relieved at Dean’s words that he couldn’t have stopped himself from leaning and kissing him if he had tried. Though after all he’d been through in the past few hours, and the revelation he’d had with his fake dad, he didn’t really want to try any more.

Cas didn’t respond to the kiss for a few moments, but then his hands were wrapping around Dean’s head and pulling him in closer, and Dean was happier than he could ever recall being. When they finally broke apart so that Dean could breath, he said in a stunned voice “I really should have done that sooner.”

“Yes,” Cas agreed, and Dean let out a little giggle. Screw his dad and what he thought about omegas. Dean could be a badass and still kiss the cute guy if he wanted to, damn it.

“Thank god you guys are okay,” Sam said as he barreled in, and Dean was glad he’d waited until now to do it instead of when his tongue was doing naughty things inside an angel’s mouth. He wasn’t planning on keeping… whatever it was that he and Cas were most likely going to have now a secret from his little brother, but not having to explain things right this second sounded like the best option.

“That thing,” Dean said as he pointed at the dead monster, “had me trapped, but Cas managed to get here just in time so we could both kick its ass. Apparently it eats fear, and the brave ones that make it through those hallucinations are like caviar to it.”

“Hallucinations? That explains it,” Sam said to himself.

“I saw Dad and a bunch of crap from Purgatory and Cas saw us dead. What’d you see?” Dean asked, now incredibly curious. Sam mumbled something that Dean couldn’t hear. “What?”

“Clowns,” Sam finally said, sounding grumpy.

With good reason, since Dean started laughing. “We really need to work on that phobia of yours, Sammy. It’s unhealthy, if not hilarious.”

“Jerk,” Sam muttered, equal parts annoyed and embarrassed.

Dean kept laughing as Sam made his way out of the room, but he stopped when Cas went to walk by him. “We can figure out what to do next when we get back to the bunker,” Dean told the angel. When Cas looked worried, though, Dean grabbed his hand. “I’d like to see where this could go.”

“As would I,” Cas responded, giving Dean one of his rare gummy smiles. Dean leaned in for one more quick kiss before the two hurried to catch up with the long legged moose. Life was going to change drastically once they got home, but at least for once Dean knew that it would definitely be for the better.


End file.
